Falcon: The Series
by Leigh Sims
Summary: CHAPTER THREE IS UP! The mystery stalker(s) is(are) revealed! Was it Oracle? Spoiler? Batman? The prinicipal or his son? Huntress? The riddler?....or something Rachael never expected. Plus, a shocking revelation! Oh what fun!jk READ AND REVIEW!
1. I've got a clue PT1

Story in this comic © Rachael 2003, All Rights Reserved. "Falcon" created by Rachael.   
  
Batman, Oracle, Robin and all of the others are a copyright, trademark, and owned by DC COMICS COMICS are used without permission. I have no intention of make a profit for myself with this story.   
  
Story in this comic © Rachael 2003, All Rights Reserved. "Falcon" created by Rachael.   
  
Batman, Oracle, Robin and all of the others are a copyright, trademark, and owned by DC COMICS COMICS are used without permission. I have no intention of make a profit for myself with this story.   
  
"Falcon #1: I've Got a Clue for You"  
  
Written by Rachael Simmons  
  
My name is Rachael Simmons. I was just an average teen. Another nameless face in the crowd with a boring old plateau of a life....until that fateful night I was sucked into the realm of Gotham. Instead of spending my days reading comics and watching tv this summer, it was spent risking my life against the Joker and training hard under the watch of the Bat. Now, with my training complete, I seek out to do the one thing I could never do in my home world, protect the innocent and bring justice along the side of the rest of the Batfamily as...  
  
The Falcon  
  
--------  
  
Falcon raced through an aray of bullets. Crud. How had she gotten herself into this?   
  
Performing a double handspring, followed by a somersault, she pulled out a bat-a-rang and threw it at one of the nearby assailants, knocking a gun from his hand.  
  
She dodge from left to right as she ran. She couldn't stop. Not now. She seeked out a nearby building that would provide her cover from the dozen or so assassins that were on her tail and made a mad dash for it.  
  
Her breathing was hard and ragged. Sweat poured from her brow as she continued running. She WOULD fight them, but they were all highly trained and more than likely beyond her level... Almost there...  
  
One of the assassins caught ahold of what she was up to and took aim a little ahead of her, waiting patiently.  
  
Just a few more steps...  
  
The assassin shot and a bullet hit her in the leg. Rachael stumbled slightly.   
  
Cripes. Why couldn't this go as planned. On one leg, she went into a handstand and walked/ran on her hands until she was sure they couldn't get at her from their angle. She rolled out of her handstand and sat painfully. She had made it. "Ok . You can end the simmulation now."  
  
The buildings and the assassin around her faded away into the holoroom walls of the batcave and Rachael stood up and looked at the side of her leg where the red paintball had hit. Cripes. That was going to take FOREVER to get out.  
  
-  
  
"You failed." Batman stated in a monotonal voice as he appeared from the darkness.  
  
"What do you mean! I was able to get out of their range before getting killed...er well hit with a paintball in the heart area" Falcon should have KNOWN that she shouldn't have taken him up on his challenge of trying out level eight. It was as hard as heck. She had already survived it for the past hour, she was sure to slow down sooner or later.  
  
"You were wounded. They would have been able to get down from where they were and find you in a matter of seconds if this had been real." He pointed out.  
  
Rachael furrowed her brows together and scowled. She wasn't one to easily admit defeat, she fit in just right with them. "Then...I want to do the simulation again."   
  
Batman stared for a long moment, his expression unreadable, his thoughts unhearable. "Go home. Training was over with a half-an-hour ago."  
  
"But--"  
  
He didn't even give her a chance to argue. He just turned around and left.  
  
Rachael mumbled to herself about him being a jerk, but did as told and left, taking a Bat-cycle. It was late. Since her basic training was over, every night after patrol she had holo-room training. It was already nearing....2 a.m. and she hadn't seen Robin all day. Where was he? He was basicly her only friend, other than Batgirl, and she needed help with her schedule. That's right. Tomorrow was her first day of School at Gotham Heights High. Summer had gone by to quickly. Why did she have to go to school anyway? She didn't even EXIST here.  
  
---  
  
Falcon raced back to the clock tower on the Batcycle. Her mind was filled with thoughts and she only payed half-attention to the roads. Thankfully, her bike was on auto-drive....  
  
It seemed like it was just yesterday that her life had been normal...the summer had gone by in a blink of an eye. It had been just that June that she had arrived and she still remembered it in full detail.  
  
The Bike switched lanes and turned a nearby corner.   
  
She had been in her backyard in her house in Texas when the vortex had opened and she had been hurteled out onto Gotham's slimy streets. She had been saved from a sick group of street thugs by Batman and Robin and ,soon, they learned her story and took her in. No WAY someone with her kinda knowledge should be wondering the streets here. She knew too much.   
  
It was the next night that she finnaly got in on some action. The Joker had escaped ,once again, from Arkam and had kidnapped the Dark knight and the Boy Wonder. "Borrowing" some of Oracle's technology, she had went to save them and suceeded, nearly getting herself killed in the process if it hadn't been for Robin...  
  
Falcon came out of her thoughts as she neared the clock tower, not knowing that she was being watched not to far away...  
  
She pulled into an abandoned alleyway and headed into the clock tower in her civies.   
  
Rachael headed down the halls of the tower, the one place her stalker dared not follow. To risky.  
  
---  
  
"Come on Rachael. School starts in an hour and you DON'T want to be late on the first day." Barbara told her as she wheeled into the girl's bedroom and turned on the lights.   
  
Rachael groaned and threw her bed's comfortor over her head to sheild out the light. "Five more minutes." She mumbled and turned to go back to sleep.  
  
Barbara rolled over to the bed and tore the comforter away from Rachael's grasp. "That's what you said twenty minutes ago. Now rise and shine, sleepy head."  
  
"I'll rise, but I WON'T shine." Rachael mumbled as she opened her eyes painfully.  
  
"C'mon! If I have to get up this early, so do you." Barbara said as she rolled out of the room.  
  
" Your evil, Barb." Rachael called out to her as she relunctantly got out of bed and grabbed the clothes that she had laid out the night before.  
  
"How can I be evil? I'm one of the good guys." Barbara shot back from the hall.  
  
"Riiight." Rachael replied and began to get dressed, leaving her room in a total mess. Alfred wouldn't be pleased if he saw it.  
  
-  
  
She raced down to the living room as she tyed her hair back in a ponytail and ate a bagle that she had grabbed from the nearly bare kitchen. "I'm going to be SO late if I don't hurry." Rachael whined as she scuried along.  
  
"I'm rerouting one of the city busses to drive you straight to school. You've got...ten minutes to get downstairs." Barb' told her as she typed away at her computer.  
  
"Your a Godsend." Rachael said as she finished off her bagle and grabbed her purse and a small binder to take notes in.   
  
"Five minutes ago I was Evil, now I'm a Godsend...You REALLY need to make up your mind."  
  
"Later. I'm not even going to make it to the bus if I don't hurry." Rachael opened the front door to the apartment and made her way to the elevator. "Bye!"  
  
  
  
-----  
  
Rachael headed down the halls of Gotham Heights High School. She still had...she checked her watch...five minutes to get her class schedule and head to her first period room....Now if she could find the office...  
  
"Hey! Rachael!" A familiar voice called out and she turned to see Tim Drake ,a.k.a. Robin the Boy Wonder, heading her way. "Let me guess...lost?" He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"No...Ok. Yeah, I am. YOU wouldn't happen to know where the office is, would you?" She asked with a desperate look.  
  
Tinm chuckled slightly. "Yeah. I do, I was actualy just heading there myself. So...just follow my lead."  
  
They walked towards the office together, finding it in mere seconds. If Rachael had been looking for it by herself, it would have taken her MUCH longer.  
  
---  
  
"Mmmm" Rachael looked over the schedule she had been handed and groaned.  
  
"What?" Tim asked as he looked over his own paper.  
  
"Look who I have for English." She handed him the schedule and he looked it over while she rubbed the bridge of her nose.  
  
"Lessee...Ms. Burtinellie--whoa." He looked back up at Rachael. "Huntress is your second period teacher." He whispered, wide eyed.  
  
A small dity of 'Its a Small World After All' began to play through Rachael's head. "This is all to wei--"  
  
"Tim! What's up ma--whoa." Ives stopped when he saw Tim talking with the lovely long haired brunnete, Rachael, and he jabbed Tim slightly in the ribs with his elbow. "Tim, are you going to introduce me to your friend ."  
  
"Uhhh..." Tim spaced for a second, but quickly got his cool back. "Ives, this is Rachael. Rachael, this is Ives."  
  
  
  
The two shook hands politely with a little greeting between them. Tim just let out a small, relieved sigh.  
  
  
  
"Well, nice to meet you. But I've got to get Tim-boy here to class before your late." Ives grabbed his friends arm and dragged him along.  
  
"C-ya Tim!" Rachael called out.  
  
"Um...bye." He said before dissappearing around the corner.  
  
Rachael looked down at her schedule again and blinked. They had forgotten to put her locker number down. "Excuse me, Mame. What's my locker number?" Rachael asked as she showed the secretary the blank spot where her no. was supposed to go.  
  
"Oh! I'm sorry. It is..." The secretary brought something up on her computer. "865"  
  
"Thankyou," Rachael replied as she dashed to her first P.  
  
A dark figure watches the entire scene play out from around the corner and narrowed its eyes as it watches the young girl leave.   
  
----  
  
The cursed schoolbell rang, telling Rachael that she was late for her second class on the first day. Why her? This WASN'T going to give her teacher a good impression of her, ESPICIALLY considering that her teacher was the Huntress, a crazed vigilante who believed in killing some of the murderous scum she went after. She fought her own, personal vendetta on crime.  
  
Rachael finnaly found her classroom and rushed in. "I'm sorry I'm..." Rachael looked round the half empty classroom. "Late?"  
  
"First day of school., almost everyone is late, Miss... " Burtenellie prompted as she filied away some papers at her desk, never raising her head to acknoledge Rach'.  
  
"Rachael. Rachael Simmons." Rachael replied, doing her best to hide her discomfort.   
  
"Well, find yourself a seat Miss. Simmons."   
  
Rachael choose a seat in the back corner and slid into it silently.. It would probably be best NOT to be seen.  
  
Soon, most of the other students began to arrive. Rachael cringed as some of them used every explitive in the book. Were schools in Gotham REALLY this leniant? Gratitious violence, she could handle; But she couldn't STAND a foul mouth.  
  
Ms. Burtenellie got up from her desk and stood in front of the class once she saw that most of the people that were supposed to be there, were .   
  
"Good morning, and welcome to English 2. I have only a few rules. If you can follow those, I'm sure we'll get along just fine." She stood in front of the lecture podium. "First off, I'm not taking any slack. You do your work and we wont have any trouble. You're teenagers, not babies. I shouldn't have to treat you like one, but if I have to, I WILL." She eyed the sea of of students and waited a minute before continuing.. "Second, I will not tolerate lying. If your not telling me the truth, whether it be about why you're late to class or why you don't have your homework. I WILL find out and the consequences will be severe. An angry glint caught her eye.  
  
Rachael gulped and shrank lower into her seat. Why, oh why couldn't she have a normal teacher?  
  
-----------  
  
Batman sat in front of the Crays Computer, contemplating the best course of action in his head. Rachael would be home from her first day of school soon. He had better do this quickly.  
  
He expertly set up a connection with Oracle. He would need her help in this.  
  
"What is it, Bruce? I was right in the middle of helping Dinah out with a mission in Indonasia, so this had bettter be important. " Barbara's face came up on the computer screen. She, too, was having a rough day, if not a busy one.  
  
"I think you'll find it important enough." Batman replied in a monotonal voice and paused for a brief second. "I need you to do something for me, concerning Falcon.."   
  
------------   
  
"We know he's up to something, we just can't figure what." Commishener Akins handed Batman a collaged letter. Batman, Commmishener Akins, and Falcon stood on the roof of the roof of the G.C.P.D. Prestinct H.Q. Falcon had been told, since this was her first time to assist on an actual case and the first time to be along with Batman on a visit to with the Commishener, she should just stay back in the shadows and listen.  
  
"He hasn't commited any crime yet, but according to this Riddle, he soon will." Akins added as Batman scanned the letter.   
  
"What has hands that canot hold and a face that does not see." Batman read the riddle that was attached to the letter aloud.  
  
"A clock.," Falcon piqued in. The riddle was WAY to simple. Akins turned to face the young girl in amusement as she spoke, but Batman remained emotionless.  
  
"Another kid, huh. Where's your usual teen sidekick?" Akins pondered.  
  
"Robins working on anouther case." Batman responded, handing the riddle and the letter back to the new commishiner.  
  
Akins looked down at the letter again. Something just seemed...odd about it. "Y'know, I don't know what it is about you guys and your..." He looked up to see that the duo was gone. "Sidekicks?" Akins sighed.   
  
"How did Jim deal with these guys without having a heart attack."   
  
-------  
  
"So what now?" Falcon asked as she hopped into the backseat of the Batmobile.  
  
"We head for Nigma's apartment and wait to see what he's up to." Batman told her as he reved up the BM9 Batmobile.  
  
"So...basicly a stakeout, right?" She went over the riddle and the answer in her head. It couldn't POSSIBLY mean Oracles clocktower...could it?  
  
Batman nodded silently and the Batmoble sped down the abandoned alleyway.  
  
---------  
  
"A stakeout." Rachael spat grumpily. For five hours, FIVE HOURS, she had been watching the Riddlers place and NOTHING was happening. Batman had left four hours ago to attend to another, probably more intresting, case and left her with 'The Safe job'. She was almost bored to tears. She had wanted some action. She would even take a simple assult case right now over this.  
  
Barbara laughed on her side of the com-link. "Awww. Poor you." Barbara stifled her laughter to a mere snicker. "So, he hasn't made a move yet, huh."   
  
"No! All he's been doing is sipping a glass of cheap wine and gathering ideas from some book." Falcon came out of the crouch on the side of the building she was perched on to sit cross-legged and slumping as she continued to stare into the apartment window of Edward Nigma across the street. "He probably never even SENT that letter to the G.C.P.D. It must have been some kind of setup."  
  
"Somebody obviously needs a nap. It's nearing one.Why dont you just head on back here."  
  
"I can't. At least not until Bats tells me to call it a night." She yawned. Bed didn't sound to bad just about now.  
  
"Yeah. Well. Whoever WROTE the letter, sure had--" a small beep came up on Barbara's side of the line.   
  
"Someone else is trying to reach me. I'll have to call you back. Oracle out."  
  
"Kay. Falcon out." then the line went dead and Rachael went back to seeing how long she could stare at the nearby building without blinking. Thats just how desperate for entertainment she was.  
  
-------  
  
Falcon was getting sleepy, VERY sleepy. Her eyes drooped dangerously low as she still stared into the now dark apartment window. With her head propped onto her left hand, she yawned.  
  
"Go home. He obviously isn't making a move tonight." Came an emotionless voice from behind.  
  
Falcon stood up drowsily. "Night? It's morning for Pete's Sake! Four a.m. to be exact. Enigma went to bed at three."  
  
"I expect a report on it later. Go home and catch up on the few hours of sleep you have left."  
  
Falcon, REALLY wanting to go to sleep, nodded drowsily. She pulled a grapnel from her belt and swung in the direction of her temporary home. She was NOT going to want to get up in a few hours.  
  
-------  
  
Rachael was MAD! Not at anyone in particular, but she was still peeved. She had gotten only two hours of sleep and her face showed it. She couldn't WAIT for the weekend to come so she could just sleep in again. She was usualy the nice, sweet, and shy girl who never rocked the boat. Today, however, that wasn't the case. Hey, lets just see how YOU deal with just two hours of sleep a night! Besides, she wasn't much of a morning person...  
  
She was at her locker when it happened, shoving her newly boughten school supplies into her small, dinky locker. She yawned and laid her head against her locker door when a well-built, highschool football jock with sandy blond hair and a smile that said he could have any girl he wanted, approached her and leaned a hand against a neighboring locker.   
  
"Hi there." The jock said flirtatiously.  
  
Rachael just grunted and peeped through her half open eyes tiredly. She finnaly brought her head off of her locker and went through her school supplies again, trying to remember what it was she needed for her next class.  
  
"I'm Brian. And you are?"   
  
"Not." She yawned tiredly as she pulled out a three subject spiral. "Intrested." She then shot him a glare that screamed 'back off'  
  
"Aww. C'mon. A girl like you could go far with a guy like me." He OBVIOUSLY couldn't take a hint and reached over and grabbed her butt.  
  
That woke Rachael up in an instant. Any other day, she would have just told him to get the heck away unless he wanted to be sued, but today she REALY wasn't in the mood.  
  
She grabbed his hand and twisted it, making him fly over her shoulder and land flatt on his back on the opposite side of her of where he had been. A simple hopkido joint lock and twist. He let out a small yelp and the kids around them begin to laugh and point at the fallen 'Brian'.  
  
"Whats your problem!" He boomed.  
  
"TOUCH ME AGAIN AND I'LL DO MORE THEN BREAK YOUR FRAGILE MALE EGO!" She spat in disgust. At least she had showed enough restraint to not break anything.  
  
"Young lady, just WHAT do you think you're doing!" A teacher made his way towards Rachael and the Jock. Uhohh she was in it DEEP. Rachael groaned.  
  
"Principal's office... NOW!" The teacher bellowed out. Rachael hung her head in shame and made her way to the principal's office, escorted by the small wirey teacher.  
  
The students who had seen the scene, just watched on as the girl left, but 'Brian' growled as he stood back up as the others laughed at him. NO ONE made a fool out of HIM.  
  
-------  
  
Rachael sat in the Pricipal's office, silent. She stared down at her hands nervously and the Principal stared at HER sternly.   
  
Rachael wasn't nervous, nor intemidated, by Pricipal Huster. She wasn't scared of D-hall either. He was the LEAST of her worries. No, what she was scared of was what Batman and Barbara would do to her once they found out.  
  
"Miss. Simmons, you are supposed to behave like a young lady. YOUNG LADIES don't start fights." Pricipal Huster began his lecture.  
  
"But Sir! I was defending myself! He sexualy harassed me! Isn't HE going to get in trouble?" Rachael argued, not in an angry manner but as someone pleading their innocence.  
  
"I think Brian has been punished enough." The principal commanded her a glare.  
  
"But--"  
  
"No buts, Miss. Simmons. You broke the rules and now--" He was interupted by his secretary.  
  
"Excuse me, Principal Huster?" The elderly secretary poked her head in through the office doorway. "Theres a...situation out here that I think requires your attention."  
  
"Coming Ms. Smith." Principal Huster got up from his seat behind his desk. "Stay put. I'm not done with you." he told the young girl before leaving abruptly.  
  
Rachael sat in the office for twenty minutes before the Principal returned. What could take him this long?  
  
"Sorry." The Principal reentered the office in a rush. "Now. Where was I." He looked over at Rachael, who had taken back to starring at her hands. "Ah. Yes. You are here by suspended from school for a week. Gather your stuff from your locker and please LEAVE."  
  
Rachael nodded and got up from her own chair and left. 'That chuavanistic, sexist PIG!' Racahel thought to herself as she stormed out of the office and towards her locker.  
  
She swung open her locker once she reached it and got her backpack out. Thats when she noticed something. The seam. There was a hidden compartment in her backpack in which she kept her Falcon costume and the hidden seam of it...was open! She opened it even further and searched it for her costume.   
  
Her eyes widened. Oh no, it was GONE! Instead, there was a small collaged note inside. Rachaels face paled as she read it,being careful only to barely hold the edges so as not to leave any fingerprints.. She stared blankly ahead for a moment before reading it again, She read it over and over. One thing was for sure, this wasnt good. It read:  
  
I know your secret.   
  
TO BE CONTINUED  
  
Please R&R ;) I'll be sure to personally thank those who do review in my story. So, pweeeeeaasse. Its that nice little pretty button in the left hand corner Thats right, just one little review ;) 


	2. I've got a clue pt2

Story in this comic © Rachael 2003, All Rights Reserved. "Falcon" created by Rachael.  
  
Batman, Oracle, Robin and all of the others are a copyright, trademark, and owned by DC COMICS COMICS are used without permission. I have no intention of make a profit for myself with this story.  
  
A/n: WOW! It took me to long to update :'( Sorry guys. FIRST my computer got broke, THEN I got grounded, and THEN I was out of town for a week in Colorado. So don't hurt me! Thanks to everyone who reviewed ;) I LOVE YOU GUYS!....in a totaly hetero sense of course. If you have an idea who the 'stalker' is, email me at : vigilant_detective@hotmail.com ;) And.....REVIEW!  
  
"Falcon #2:I've Got A Clue For You pt.2"  
  
Written by Rachael Simmons  
  
My name is Rachael Simmons. I'm just an average teen. Another nameless face in the crowd witha boring old plateau of a life....until that fateful night I were sucked into the realm of Gotham. Instead of spending my days reading comics and watching tv this summer, it was spent risking my life against the Joker and training hard under the watch of the Bat. Now, with my training complete, I seek out to do the one thing I could never do in my home world, protect the innocent and bring justice along the side of the rest of the Batfamily...as  
  
The Falcon  
  
And right now, I'm in DEEP trouble. Now do I not only have to explain WHY I was kicked out of school, I also have to explain HOW someone figured out who I was.  
  
Rachael quickly shoved the letter back into her backpack. She thought a second and then put her locker's padlock into her sack as well, using a handkerchef to remove it so as not to smear any of the finger prints on it and replaced it with a spare lock from her purse.  
  
Ohhhh yeah. THIS will go over well. Hey Batman, you know that super identity thing that the bat-clan has been working to keep a secret for the past decade or so? Well guess what I blew!  
  
She stared off into space, stunned, for a moment as a hand tapped her shoulder and she whipped around in panic, only calming when she recognized the face of Alfred.  
  
"Come along Yound Miss. Rachael." came the calm reply of Alfred Pennyworth. It wasn't hard to tell that he was none to pleased with the girls actions that morning.  
  
Rachael swallowed her stress and nodded, following the elderly gentlemen out to the limosene that waited out in front of the school.  
  
She came to a decision. No, she wouldn't tell either of her mentors, Batman or Oracle, that her costume had been stolen. She had a spare anyway and she was in enough trouble as it was. She would handle this HERSELF.  
  
Rachael looked back at the school as Alfred held the backseat door open for her and she clambered in. As Alfred closed it, got in the front, and began to drive off; Rachael could have swore that she saw someone watching from inside a nearby classroom window.  
  
---------  
  
Stephanie Brown watched as the Brown haired girl got into the Limo, escorted by the familiar elderly man that she had seen before, and drove off. She narrowed her eyes as she watched the girl leave. The rest of her trig class crowded around the window as well to see the expensive car leave with the girl that was rumoured to have beaten up Brian. The football teams leading quaterback. Stephanie made her way back to her seat to finish up her work. She had better things to do then watch the new member of the Bat- clan get in trouble... Rachael blinked as she stepped out of the car and Alfred closed the back door behind her. This wasn't the clock tower. Ohhhh no. This was a WHOLE lot worse. Stately Wayne Manor, home of billionair Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman. She'd rather face Oracle for her punishment ANY day then...Him.  
  
She looked at Alfred questioningly and he easily read her expression of confusement and fear. "Miss. Barbara is.... busy at the moment and wishes not to be disturbed. She suggested I take you here instead."  
  
'Well thanks alot Babs. Some legal guardian YOU are.' Rachael thought to herself as she and Alfred went on inside the manor. She was in one of her quiet fits. Afraid, that if she talked, she would spill the details of her...situation and she would be in even BIGGER trouble.  
  
"Soooo...can I watch tv?" Rachael tried to lighten the situation some. Plus, if she really COULD watch tv, that would mean that she didn't have to face Bruce at the moment and her punishment would be delayed a short while.  
  
"Master Bruce is wishing to speak with you down in the sub-basement." Alfred replied.  
  
No such luck. "Ummm....ok." Rachael went over to the grandfather clock, opened it slowly, and made her way down the bat-cave steps. Alfred didn't follow.  
  
------------  
  
Batman sat in front of the crays computer with a sense of irogance and pride...in his own stoical way, as he heard Rachael make her way down the cave steps. As he stood, turning to face her, hehe said the one thing most parents say that make our minds draw up with a blank. "What. were. you. thinking." Batman interrogated, using 'the voice'.  
  
"Ummm." Rachael bit her lower lip nervously as Batman continued to glower at her.  
  
"Well?" He raised an eyebrow, emotionless face. "I was THINKING I wasn't about to let some guy make a pass at me. What was I supposed to do? I doubt that if I asked him nicely, he would have just gone away!" Rachael defended her case.  
  
"Average people don't know how to throw someone over their shoulders, You could have raised alot of suspicion. And then someone could easily figure out who you are." Batman instructed, calmly but harshly.Rachael gazed down at her feet. He was right. It took alot of self-control for her to keep him from seeing just how right he was by the look on her face.  
  
"Your identity wouldn't lead back to Nightwing, Robin, or me but it would lead to Oracle/" Batman continued. He remembered having a similar conversation with Cassandra awhile back. "You might not care what happens to YOU if they find out who you are, but at least think about Barbara and what would happen to HER."  
  
Rachael continued to stare down at her feet and nodded solemnly, working hard to keep a straight face and not show her fear. 'Oh gosh! What if whoever found out who I am is psycho? What if they go after my friends!' She thought franticly.  
  
Batman, finished with his speech, turned bach to his work at the crays computer. "Go change into costume and head down to the training area and do simulation x39 until I say to stop." He sentenced her her punishment.  
  
Rachael face finnaly slipped and overcame with fear. X39 was one of the hardest simulation programs. It was cryptic. Rachael swallowed her breath and headed for the costume vault where sge kept her spare costumes. Thank heavens for her spare costumes.  
  
Falcon appeared from the training room bruised and battered. First degree burns; cuts, scrapes, and bruises littered her body. She had spent nearly all day avoiding axes hurled at her head, flame throwers that could fry her, and all varieties of holographic psychos; everything from the Joker, to Killer Crock, to Lady Shiva.  
  
She was lucky. Bruce had a meeting to attend, so she was off the hook for a few hours. She also had a feeling that Alfred had somehow persuaded him that she had had enough. With punishments like these, she would NEVER step out of line again.  
  
Falcon plopped in front of the batcomputer as she tended to her minor wounds. She thought of her case at hand and pulled the letter out of her nearby backpack with gloved hands. She studied it for a long moment and knit her eyebrows together. Hadn't the letter and the riddle that had been sent to the G.C.P.D. had been a collage as well? The young girl leaned forward to the screen a bit as she typed something into the Crays Computer.  
  
A police report ,that had been filed earlier that morning, came up and Rachael narrowed her eyes. Fingerprints had been found on the letter, but they hadn't been those of the Riddler; in fact, none of Gotham's criminal population's finger prints matched those found on the letter...meaning it was either a hoax or a new villain altogether...  
  
"Still on that Riddler case, huh" A voice asked from behind and Rachael gave a slight jump, quickly hiding her own letter in a spiral notebook.  
  
She then turned her high-backed chair around to come face to face with Robin, the Boy wonder. "Do you HAVE to do that?" She asked, slightly annoyed.  
  
Robin just shrugged. "Comes with the territory." He looked over his young friend and noticed how she had been terribly beat during her training session. "Think you're up to a spar?" He pondered aloud, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Falcon grinned widely and shoved the spiral that contained the conundrum of a letter into her backpack once again. A spar, she could handle; however, she wasn't fond of the death defying sim trainings. "You bet." Rachael replied as she pushed her backpack aside.  
  
--------  
  
Fifteen minutes later, Rachael was down in the training room once again, waiting for her opponent, Robin, to make the first move.  
  
"So. Did anything interesting happen at school today?" Falcon tried to make small talk as they circled around the mat patiently.  
  
"Nah. I think you beating up Brian Huster was the highlight of the day." Robin came in with a strong round house aimed at Rachael's head.  
  
"Wait!" Rachael ducked and rolled around to come to his other side. "Did you say 'Huster'? As in 'PRINCIPAL Huster'?" She kicked her leg out in a sweep.  
  
"Brian is his son." Robin jumped into the air to avoid the sweeping motion.  
  
"Oh great." Rachael came to stand back up in a defensive stance. "No wonder he came down so hard on me." She switched her legs around and came in with a reverse sidekick. "Well. At least I didn't have to go to Huntresse's class today."  
  
"Well. Actually, I heard she was absent today..." Robin blocked the sidekick with one hand. "Oh c'mon! You can do better than that!"  
  
"Argh!" Rachael went into a long series of roundhouse kicks, switching her legs up every so often.  
  
"Whoa." Robin pulled out his Bo-staff to help him evade the fury of kicks. "Angry much?" Robin blocked another roundhouse then swung the staff around to sweep Falcon's legs out from underneath her, causing her to fall flat on her bum.  
  
"Ow." Rachael rolled back abit then flipped herself back up, lading on the balls of her feet. "I guess I'm not as much angry as I am stressed."  
  
"Care to talk about it?"Robin asked, concerned, as he collapsed his Bo- staff and put it back in its proper place in his utility belt.  
  
"Well...." Falcon contemplated telling him as she came out of her crouch to stand in a normal manner. "You have to promise me that you won't tell ANYONE."  
  
"Keeping secrets is a part of what we do." Robin responded emotionlessly.  
  
Rachael sighed as she tore off her mask and went to sit on a nearby exercise bench. "I think someone has found out my secret I. D..." She looked down at her feet.  
  
"Who?" Robin urged her as he stalked over to where she was. A stern, yet worried, expression fell over his face.  
  
"I-I don't know." Rachael faltered and she sulked in shame.  
  
Robin's stern features softened slightly, but not noticeable. "Why don't you explain what happened from the beginning." He encouraged her as he sat down next to his friend.  
  
"Well...I was getting my stuff from my locker this morning to head on home when--"  
  
"You were coming from the Principal's office, right?" Robin observed.  
  
"Yeah and... When I was getting my stuff from my locker, I noticed that the seam of my backpack was opened and my costume was...well, gone!"  
  
"But you're wearing your costume right now..."  
  
"It's a spare, Wonder-boy. But that's not even the worst of it." Rachael grimaced slightly. "Someone left an anonymous letter in its place, saying that they know my secret."  
  
"Wow. When you get in trouble, you go all the way out."  
  
Rachael shot him a glare. "Robin. this is serious. Someone knows who I AM. They could also know the rest of the clan's identities as well."  
  
Robin nodded sternly. "Where's the letter?"  
  
--------------------  
  
Robin looked the letter over and looked over every single detail in it. Every time he read it, it was like the first.  
  
"Well?" Rachael asked.  
  
"It's allot like the one that was sent to the GCPD Robin remarked.  
  
"That's exactly what I was thinking." Rachael replied as she pulled out her mini crime scene kit and pulled out a small vile of a clear chemical. "Can you hand it to me real quick?"  
  
Robin handed it to her and Rachael laid it on a nearby table, she then took some of the clear liquid from the plexi-glass test tube and applied it to what looked like a small painting brush. She applied the chemical to the sheet of paper evenly and carefully, being careful to hold the paper still with out touching most of it and holding on to only the edges.  
  
"What are you doing?" Robin asked, though he was sure he already knew.  
  
"Luminol. You know, the stuff that makes fingerprints come up on paper and make them glow a purplish color. Seems those hours I spend watching Court TV actually come in handy." Just as she said, little purple marks began to appear across the paper.  
  
"DARN IT!" Rachael said angrily.  
  
"What?" Robin looked at the paper as well and saw what she was so angry about, but she explained it anyway.  
  
"These prints have no markings. The person was wearing gloves." Rachael looked over the prints. "The Luminol was able to pick up the oil in their hands, but not the prints. That's weird."  
  
"The person must have been sweating." Robin pointed out as he took the letter back and looked at it himself.  
  
"Why do you say that?"  
  
"If he or she were sweating, the prints would still have been able to be seen through the paper cause the oil FROM the hands comes out when a person sweats. Whoever it was was probably nervous."  
  
"Oh...Well, we know it isn't the same person who sent the letter to the GCPD anymore. THAT one had prints." Rachael furrowed her brow in though. "But then WHO did either of them?"  
  
"Well.... I'm not sure about the one sent to the GCPD, but think about who you've already made enemies of at high school or someone who would probably be suspicious of who you are." Robin sat in the high-backed computer chair nearby in thought.  
  
"Hmmmm. There's Burtinellie, Brian Huster, Principal Huster..."  
  
"Why Principal Huster? I think it would be his son more then it would be him."  
  
"He was gone from the room where I was for twenty minutes. That's long enough to pull something like this off. Not to mention, my costume was taken sometime during my visit to the principal's office..." Rachael thought a moment and then pulled her lock out as well. "I know their not very SOUND suspects, but that's all I can come up with right now. Can you pass me the dusting stuff?"  
  
"Don't jump to conclusions until you have all the evidence. It could dilute your theory." He tossed her a small compact filled with plain powder and a large, bushy brush. "Here. "  
  
"Thanks." Rachael began to dust the lock for finger prints, only to find her own and no one else's "Hmmm Whoever did this was wearing gloves when they put they broke into the locker as well. Very bright..." To bright to have been a jock like Brian. Not to mention, how had the perpetrator figured out the code for the lock in the first place? It hadn't been cut. Someone had used HER lock combination and simply opened it...  
  
Robin got up from his chair and started to put the things in plastic bags and put them back in Rachael's backpack. "C'mon. We're heading back to the school. Bruce will probably be back here in a few for patrol. You're going on patrol with me tonight."  
  
"But--"  
  
"And we need to make a quick pit stop later on at the high school to pick up a few.... Things." Robin handed Rachael her backpack and Rachael simply nodded. She caught his drift.  
  
------  
  
"Umm. Robin? Are you SURE this is a good idea?" Falcon watched as the Boy Wonder took the four skrews that held a large air duct cage in place, that led into Gotham Hights high.  
  
"Relax." He took off the cover of the air vent completely off and crawled on in to the duct. "We just need to check your locker out for more evidence and then we're out of here."  
  
"But what other evidence IS there?" She followed him on in and they crept through the vent silently.  
  
"Look for skid marks on the ground left by their shoes, hair, clothing fibers, take photos of the condition they left your locker in, and anything else that looks out of place." He opened a shaft that led into the schools survielance room.  
  
"Uh huh. And what are you going to be doing?" Falcon watched as he climbed out of the vent and landed gracefully on the ground below. "I'll shut down the security alarms, make sure no one is in the building and check to see if they have the perp on tape."  
  
Rachael hung halfway down the shaft. "Ok...any chance I can get directions?"  
  
"Second right and then the next left." Robin answered as he looked over a map of the school.  
  
"Got it." Falcon began her journey through the air vents .  
  
----  
  
Falcon walked down the empty hallways with one hand pressed to her com- link. "Is the coast clear, Rob'?" She whispered as she crouched in the shadows at the slightest noise.. This place had a COMPLETELY different feel to it at night.  
  
"*There's one security guard making his nightly rounds. But he's on the other side of the school. I'd say that you've got about....twenty minutes to check things out and get out of there.*"  
  
"Ok." She slipped on a pair of bulky night-vision goggles and set out on her mission. "I'm going in. Que the 'Mission Impossible' music!"  
  
Robin chuckled slightly on his side of the line as he watched her head down the hall on one of the security cams.  
  
-  
  
Rachael turned the combination lock on her locker and slowly creaked in open. Her eyes surveyed were scattered about the locker floor in their usual messy and unorganized manner.  
  
"Well nothing looks out of normal here--"waiiit aminute." She narrowed her eyes and peered in closer.  
  
"*What is it?*" Robin came in over the com-link.  
  
Rachael took out a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass from her utility belt and she carefully plucked a greenish off of the hook that was meant for her backpack and it had been hanging on that morning. "I haven't worn anything green to school, so why is there a piece of green material in my locker."  
  
"*What color is it. It's hard to tell when the security cams only have black and white footage.*"  
  
"Its a green hue..." Rachael blinked. "The riddler wears green. " E. Nigma knew who Batman was under that mask, it wouldn't be to hard for him to figure out who the rest of the members of the Batclan were. Could this be his way of indirectly getting back at Batman for outsmarting him in the 'Hush' scandal? By messing with one of his apprentices minds?  
  
"Just keep gathering clues Falcon. We don't want to jump to conclusions. Anything else out of place?"  
  
Falcon looked the locker over again. Whoever it was, didn't leave any finger prints OR hair deposits.  
  
She took a quick snapshot of the condition of her locker and then crouched down to examine a pair of skid marks from shoes that she were sure weren't there before. A dried bit of mud lined the shoe markings. "It hasdn't rained in a long while. Where would the person have gotte mud on their shoes?" She scraped up some of the dirt deposits into a little plastic baggie and was about to take a picture of the markings when she heard a noise.  
  
Falcon's head snapped up as she heard distant footsteps as they echoed down the hall. "I thought you said I had ten more minutes." She hissed into her com-link.  
  
"*Falc', I told you that eight minutes ago! You should've--wait.*" Robin said in a whisper himself. The guard was now passing the survielance room.  
  
After the guard had passed, Robin began to whisper again. "*Get out of there. Now. We don't want to have to explain why FALCON is going through RACHAEL SIMMONS' locker*"  
  
"Can't you find a way to hold them back just a lottle longer?" She whispered as she looked down the hallway for a place to hide.  
  
"*Sorry. No can do. To risky. Just get out of there.*"  
  
-  
  
A locker door was heard slaming shut and the unnamed guard broke into a sprint until it came upon the hall the noise had origenated from, only to find...nothing.  
  
The security guard walked down the hall for a second and stopped not to faraway from Rachael's locker.  
  
Falcon held her breatrh from inside the cramped quarters. She peered out a tiny crack that was in the side of her locker and watched the burly man with a bushy mustache scratch hisd head confused. He could have sworn he heard something.  
  
The man then turned to Rachael's locker, noticing it was the only locker amng the bunch that didn't have a lock on it. Dang. She should have remembered to put it back on. His hand hovered over the locker door handle for just a minute.  
  
Falcon closed her eyes, waiting for the door to fly open and see the suprised look on the guards face..but it never happened.  
  
The guard just shook his head. Nah. There were lockers all over this school without locks on em'. Didn't mean anything special. He was just becoming pareniod in his old age. He took off in the opposite direction and ,soon, the sound of his footsteps faded out once again.  
  
"That was...close." Falcon sighed a sigh of relief as she went to open her locker.  
  
"Your telling me." A voice called from the outside and opened her locker FOR her.  
  
"Eep!" Rachael fell forward from her locker and landed on the person the voice was connected to a heap on the ground.  
  
"Well THAT was smooth." Robin grunted as Rachael landed ontop of him on the floor.  
  
"Geeze. Warn a girl next time. Would ya?!" Falcon whined, annoyed, from where she had landed on top of him.  
  
"Sure. Just one thing?"  
  
"What"  
  
"Could you....ummm. Get off of me." Robin asked as they both realized the situation and blushed.  
  
Rachael scrambled off of him in a rush and came to stand back up. "I....think its time for us to get." She said as she helped Robin to his feet as well. She was thankful that the darkness of the night hid her flustered blush.  
  
"Yeah..." Robin rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. "C'mon. Lets go." Robin regained his composer and the two left the way they had came. Robin dropped Falcon off a block away from the clock tower. It was nearing one and they, well at least Tim, had school in the morning.  
  
"Thanks for the lift." Falcon told Robin as she climbed out of the Redbird with duffle bag, which contained her civvies and the evidence for her case, in hand.  
  
"Don't mention it." Robin said with an encouraging grin, which Rachael returned with her own smile. "I better be going, C-ya."  
  
"Bye!" Falcon waved as the Redbird sped off.  
  
She let out a small, tired and stressed sigh of exhaustion and headed for a nearby alley to change.  
  
--------  
  
"Babs! I'm back!" Rachael called out as she entered the clock tower; duffle bag slung over one shoulder.  
  
Barbara jumped slightly as she entered and quickly hid some papers and turned off one of the nearby monitors. "Uh...hey!" She said nervously like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar and went along typing at one of her many computers.  
  
"Wow. Did I just catch the 'All seeing Oracle' off guard? Must be some case your working on if you didn't notice me come in." Rachael pointed out with an eyebrow raised curiously and walked to where Barbara was.  
  
"Nah...just a little jumpy from the coffee, that's all." Barbara pointed to nearby cup of caffeine filled black coffee to prove her point.  
  
"What were you working on anyway?" Rachael asked as she stepped forward some more.  
  
"Nothing." Oracle answered quickly. Too quickly.  
  
Rachael stared a long moment, unconvinced that it was 'nothing' "Riiight." Rachael said as she turned towards her room. "I'm going to hit the sack G'night."  
  
"Kay."  
  
Why was Barb' acting so weird? She hadn't even lectured her about getting kicked out of sch--"  
  
"And in the morning, I think we need to have a little 'talk' about 'controlling your anger'."  
  
Rachael's head sunk lower. She dreaded the thought of what tomorrow would bring, but, in a way, she was also anxious for it to come. The sooner she got this case under wraps, the better.  
  
-----------------  
  
Rachael lay in bed a long while. Thinking.  
  
Sunlight dances through a nearby window, filling Rachael's beige walled room with sunshine. It's eight o' clock. For her, even THIS is early. But se could no longer sleep. The little mystery that was her life plagues even her dreams. Why was there mud on the ground in front of her locker? How were the Riddler case and this one connected if the perp showed the same pattern but evidence pointed them to be different cases all together? What would Batman do to her when he found out? What would Oracle say? What was Babs working on last night anyway?  
  
Rach' lay in her full-sized bed with hands laced behind her head on the pillow as she stared up at the ceiling. She turned her head a bit and looked at the nearby clock. 'Babs won't be up for a few more hours. Maybe....'  
  
Rachael climbed out of bed, in her usual black tank top and army green gym shorts. She crept silently to her door and peered out of it, looking down the abandoned hallway into the vacant living room and listened carefully for the sound of computer keys typing way upstairs. But all she heard was the still breathing of the  
  
'All-seeing Oracle' down the hall in her own bedroom, asleep.  
  
She carefully made her way down the hallway and to the computer room using the stealth techniques she had been taught from Batman during her basic training.  
  
Once she was up in Oracles computer room, she let out a breath that she had been keeping in ever since she had first made her escape from her bedroom and sat in a comfy chair near the main computer.  
  
"Alright Barb', what were you working on last night that you didn't want me to know about." She began typing rapidly and scanning through the many files the computer held, finally finding what she was looking for.  
  
One file, that had been made last night according to the propertied history, had no labeling of any kind and was one of the few that she didn't summarize what the file held. That was enough t raise Rachael's suspicion.  
  
"Daggit!" She cursed under her breath. The file was password protected. She attempted to hack her way in, but hacking had never been her fortay.  
  
She finally gave up on it. It was nigh' impossible to break Barbs' pass codes.  
  
She sat there a moment, not knowing what to do next. An idea came to mind and she went with it.  
  
Oracle kept phone calls that were important to cases, flagged, so she could easily find them for the other members of the Bat clan.  
  
That's when one flagged call caught her eye. The call had been made between one and two the other night...same time Barb had received a call when Rachael was on a stakeout at Nigma's place. Barbara never DID call her back like she said she was and the weirdest thing about the call is that it was dispatched from a payphone a half a block from where Falcon had been...a setup? And Barbara didn't feel the need to tell her about it?  
  
Plugging in a pair of headphones so the noise from the speakers wouldn't catch the attention of Barbara and awaken her from her slumber.  
  
As soon as the headphones were securely in place, she started the audio file. She propped her head in her hand and gave an early morning, lazy yawn, only to sit up straight when she recognized the voice on the other end.  
  
-  
  
"Hello?" Barbara had asked as she picked up the phone over the audio.  
  
"You've REPLACED me." Stephainie Brown's voice spat out spitefully in Rachael's ear.  
  
"Stephanie, you are no longer a member of the Bat clan or the Birds of Prey. I prefer that you didn't cal this number again. No one has 'replaced ' you."  
  
"You're lying! I saw you and that little brown hared witch the other day! She's probably out on patrol right now! She's probably reeeeeal good friends with Tim and Batgirl."  
  
"Steph', you're being irrational." Barbara tried to control her anger.  
  
"No. I'm being freakin' rational. I bet she just popped up out of nowhere and was offered the night job on the spot."  
  
"Steph', this has NOTHING to do with you. This is strictly Bat clan business. Call this number again, and the consequences will be severe."  
  
"Don't you DARE hang up on me!"  
  
"Goodbye Stephanie."  
  
"Wai-"  
  
Click  
  
-  
  
Rachel took off the headphones, turned off the computer, and sat back in her chair, thinking. She made a temple with both of her index fingers in front of her face and brought the tips of them to her lips in thought. She went over all the clues and the recently heard tape in her mind. Usually something out of common didn't hinder a case, but in fact, helped it along and helped support the clues. Her favorite Sherlock novels had already taught her that much, and this was to be a lesson she wouldn't soon forget.  
  
She came to one conclusion: She had been setup. She had been...manipulated to be at that stakeout by Stephanie Brown, formerly Spoiler and the daughter of the Clue master, a deceased ail of the Riddler. In, in some ways, could still dilute both the Riddler case and her own, personal case.  
  
She raised an eyebrow as she continued to stare off into space. She muttered something under her breath. "And so the plot thickens."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	3. I've got a clue PT3

Authors note: RobinIV, I don't HATE Spoiler. And she is/was not the villain in my last storyline and nor will she ever be. BUUUUUT, if someone was hanging with your ex, and your ex just happened to be Tim, youd be jealous too ;) . I actually liked Steph at first, but DC has been making her out to be a bit more reckless lately(I.E. Visiting Riddle and beating him senseless). And I figure myself to be more of a Batgirl/Robin fan; But yes, this IS a Falcon/Robin fanfic since I don't want my character to be lonely :'( Stephanie will be a DYNAMIC character in this fanfic, NOT a flat 'jealous girlfriend' character. Just wait and see ;) DarkDragonSpirit: Thankyou for your review as well! It was MUCH appreciated. Alan(Pheonix): Hey! Don't worry, still gonna be reviewing your fic this evening. But ....(I know, i know. I'm a nagger) When are you going to update your Robin(Over at Earth Prime comics) story, if ever. Ever think about putting it up on fanfiction.net? Pweeeeeease. Hmmm....now If I could just get the others over at Yjutt(Young, Just us Teen Titans. My rpg site falcon4.proboards22.com ) to review...~Smirks evily.~  
  
Now.ON WITH THE SHOW!  
  
Story in this comic © Rachael 2003, All Rights Reserved. "Falcon" created by Rachael.  
  
Batman, Oracle, Robin and all of the others are a copyright, trademark, and owned by DC COMICS COMICS are used without permission. I have no intention of make a profit for myself with this story.  
  
"Falcon #1: I've Got a Clue for You"  
  
Written by Rachael Simmons  
  
My name is Rachael Simmons. I'm just an average teen. Another nameless face in the crowd witha boring old plateau of a life....until that fateful night I was sucked into the realm of Gotham. Instead of spending my days reading comics and watching tv this summer, it was spent risking my life against the Joker and training hard under the watch of the Bat. Now, with my training complete, I seek out to do the one thing I could never do in my home world, protect the innocent and bring justice along the side of the rest of the Batfamily...as  
  
The Falcon  
  
********************  
  
"Ahem" Someone called from behind Rachael, causing her to jump slightly in her chair.  
  
"Uhh...good morning." Rachael said with false cheer as she turned around to see Barbara rolling into the computer room.  
  
"Good morning." Barbara responded as she came to a stop in front of Rachael.  
  
"Rach', we need to talk."  
  
Rachael got up from her seat and made her way for the kitchen. "Look, can we maybe do this later? I have a case to work on." Barbara sighed and rolled her eyes as she follwed close behind Rachael. "Rachael, when I say 'we need to talk' it doesn't mean 'your in big trouble'."  
  
Rachael just gave a grunt and opened the refridgerator door, pulling out a carton of chocolate soymilk. Unlike her roomie', Rach' cared SOMEWHAT about what she ate, she couldn't say she felt that way all the time though.  
  
"Let me guess: The guy was hitting on you, so you were just DEFENDING yourself. Right?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Yeah." Rachael mumbled quickly, but shamefully. Maybe she didn't even have a right to be a member of the Batclan. What talents dd she have to offer it? She coudnt even keep a reign on her emotions and keep people from finding outwho she was. She opened the milk and swigged it down straight from the carton, drowning her sorrows in its chocolatey goodness.  
  
"One, use a glass." Barbara instructed "And two," Babs gave a curt sigh of stress " I probaby would have done the same thing at your age."  
  
Rachael just shrugged, poured the milk into a glass and grabbed a doughnut. "I know, but I STILL should have gone about it differently. Batman--"  
  
"Rachael, if you live your entire life trying to live upto Batmans standards and expectations, you'll drive yourself into a frenzy."  
  
"But he's BATMAN." A living legend as far as Rachael was concerned.  
  
"And your point is..."  
  
"My point is, he was right...He IS right." She corrected herself as she slumped considerably and leaned against the kitchen counter top.  
  
"About what." Barbara interrogated with an eyebrow raised cynicly.  
  
"If I use my fighting abilities...skills...whatever, at school, it could raise alot of suspicion and it wouldn't be long before people not only knew MY secret identity, but the rest of the clans I.D.'s as well." Rahael held back what she really wanted to say. That Batman had, inadvertenly , been proven right.  
  
"Rach', I watched the security footage of the defense technique you used against that jock. That was a move ANY kid could have learned in ANY self defense class. Now, this might come as a bit of a shock to ya." Babs began sarcasticly. "But Bruce is EXTREMELY paranoid."  
  
Rachael couldn't help but to crack a smile. Babs spoke the truth. Batman could be a littly paranoid at times...but he usualy had a good reason too. "Ok. Point taken." Rachael sat down at the nearby breakfast table. "You REALLY would have done the same thing in my situation, or are you just trying to make me feel better."  
  
Barbara gave a brief laugh. "You kidding? I probably would have gone a step farther and pulled his arm out of socket."  
  
The two laughed and went about their 'girl talk'. It felt good for Rachael to let out some of her troubles. Some.  
  
-------------  
  
Rachael smiled inwardly as she headed down the busy Gotham sidewalk on foot. Today she was determined to bring this mess to an end...and the pep talk from Barbara had helped boost her confidence in doing so...some.  
  
School had ended nearly two hours ago. Tim had called her up and instructed her to meet him at his place so they could veiw the footage that they had 'confiscated' last night.  
  
Rachael looked up at a nearby apartment building, then looked down at the set of directions she had been given. This was the place.  
  
"Ugh." Rachael let out a grunt of disgust as she looked down at where she had stepped in a muddy, murky puddle. Rachael looked around. The entire street was flooded over now that she thought about it. It was gloomy weather today, but it hadn't even rained...yet. It was probably a water pipe burst.  
  
She started to make her way across the street when she finally realized...she was being followed.  
  
She caught a glimpse of someone she couldn't make out in the corner of her eye and heard steps splash quickly in the puddles behind her. Rachael knew one thing for sure, she couldn't lead this person to Tim's house. No need to alert him and let the person tailing her know where she was going and why.  
  
She turned a sharp corner and briskly continued down the street and, of course, her stalker followed. A plan to catch the person in the act began to formulate in her mind. She listened carefully to the sound of the Stalker's steps and the pattern of their breaths, they were close enough for her to hear.  
  
The footsteps were as light as her own and ,from the sound of the persons footsteps, her steps weren't all that far apart. Rachael had read enough Sherlock Holms novels to know what that meant. A: The person was a girl, probably not to much older then herself. and B:She wasn't that much taller then Rachael either.  
  
This confirmed Rachael's suspicions as she turned another sharp corner into an alley and spun around on her heels at the last minute to come face to face with her blond haired follower.  
  
"Yagh!" Stephanie let out a breath of suprise as she kept herself from abruptly running into Rachael.  
  
"Why were you following me." Rachael narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice.  
  
"I-I wasn't--"Stepanies eyes darted around nervously, indicating that she had been doing so.  
  
"You're lying." Rachael pointed out with some amusement.  
  
Stephanie scowled menacingly. "You don't know me. You don't know what its like to be replaced." She spat.  
  
"Maybe I don't know what it's like." Rachael admitted honestly, having some sympathy. "But I didn't purposely 'replace' you. I'm sorry... Now WHY were you following me?" She pressed.  
  
"Sorry? Your SORRY?!" Steph' yelled, making Rachael wince slightly. "I've been watching you for weeks now. Ever since we met at the mall (See 'New Girl' ch.6 ) Your life is PERFECT."  
  
Rachael stepped closer, threateningly, and returned the harsh glare that was aimed her way. "My life...is NOT perfect. I won't pretend to know what you're going through if you don't pretend what I'm going through." She growled.  
  
"You'll end up just. Like. Me." Stephanie started to make her way out of the alley way. "Your no different than I was. You just watch. They'll deem you unworthy of the mask and it will ALL be striped away. You're NOTHING to them. They'll drop you like a sack of potatoes and you'll be all alone."  
  
Before Rachael could even respond, Stephanie dashed out of the alleyway and down the street. Rachael watched her leave. Her stomache was turning in fear...in fear that the former hero would be proven right.  
  
Rachael was a highly above average reader for her age and an artist able to draw the exact likeness of anyone....but how did those abilities benefit the Batfamily? She wasn't a phenomenal fighter like Batgirl (at least not in her own opiniion,), she wasn't an astonishing acrobat like Nghtwing, or a genious hacker like Oracle. Her detective ablities were nothing compared to Robins...or so she thught. ....and she was DEFINITLY no Batman....she was WORTHLESS to them.  
  
Her head hung down and she looked at her feet as she leaned against the brick wall of the building behind her.  
  
No. If she doubted herself, she would only make it even more apparent that she didn't have a right to be one of them. She might not be, but she could try to be. She'd give it her best.  
  
She wasn't worthless....was she?  
  
She brought her fce up from the ground to look at the cloudy sky, her eyes filled with determination.  
  
No. She was meant to be here for a reason. Nothing was chance. And she prove she was meant to be there by solving this case.  
  
Only one piece of the puzzle was missing...and it awaited her at Tim's penthouse.  
  
She began to walk back to Tim's place as it began to rin, se barely noticed. She did belong with the Batclan. Otherwise...  
  
Shhe continued down the street.  
  
Where DID she belong?  
  
She knew who had stolen her costume now...and it WASN'T Stephanie Brown.  
  
---  
  
"You're late." Tim said as he opened his apartment door before Rachael could even knock.  
  
"Oh. Well, gee. Nice to see you too." Rachael responded as she stepped past Tim and into the penthouse, wipping her muddy feet on the mat.  
  
"Sorry. Just think the sooner we get this case closed, the better."  
  
"Uh...huh." Rachael shook her now wet hair from out of the bun it had once neatly been placed in. Her grayish, knee-length skirt and black tanktop were drenched, her black, knee high boots were soggy, and she was allover soaked to the bone. Outside it was raining cats and dogs and the lightening came down with a vengance...it was her favorite kind of weather.  
  
"So...what held you up?" Tim asked as they both headed for his room where his large computer was held.  
  
He had said something about his parents being out of town, so they didn't have to worry about anyone walking in on them when they were talking about Batfamily buisness...  
  
"Um...took a wrong turn and it took me awhile to retrace my steps." Rachael quickly made up an excuse.  
  
Tim looked into her eyes for a long moment, as if trying to figure out if she was telling the truth or not.  
  
She didn't want to tell him that she had ran into his ex, Rachael knew how painful it might hae been for him if she did. And yet, she stared back at him and into his eyes and saw something that she hadn't seen there before...and she knew.  
  
Rachael finally averted his gaze with some embaressment and looked over to his computer, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Are we gonna watch that tape or what?" A tiny amount of her south eastern accent shone through in her speech.  
  
"Yeah...but I don't know how much we can get from it." Tim said as he sat down in front of his oversized monitor and started the tape.  
  
"Oh, I believe there is much to get from it." Rachael stated as they watched the video. This would be the final thing to prove her theory.  
  
---  
  
A bell ringed in the video and a few kids rushed off to their classes, already late.  
  
Soon, the halls were completely abandoned, not a single thing was heard. A pin could have been dropped and would have rang out clearly and crisply through the hallways.  
  
Then...something weird happened. The tape blanked out and the screen was filled with staticy 'snow'.  
  
Tim leaned forward a bit in his chair with a groan and fastforwarded the tape. Rachael watched him do so intently.  
  
"Not completely unexpected" Rachael remarked. Her voice was distant and sounded as if she was only paying half attention to what was going on around her.  
  
Tim just grunted in reply. "Ok. Here we go."  
  
The snow, after about seven and a half minutes, according to the track time, finally vanished and showed Pricipal Huster pacing leizurely across the hallway, looking this way and that with a look of utter puzzlement gracing his features.  
  
Huster finally shrugged, an action that was out of place for a strick disciplinarian high school principal, and headed back in the direction of his office.  
  
---  
  
"Turn it off, Tim. I've seen all I need to see. I know who it was that stole my costume and left me that threatening letter."  
  
Tim blinked, somewhat stunned. "Who?"  
  
"Lets go on patrol, I can tell you of how it went down over a bit of baddie bashing." Rachael turned quickly, headed out of Tim's room, and down the stairs to the main door of the apartment, her face was a blank slate. Outside, the rain had subsided. "Meet you on the roof in ten." She headed out the front door and closed it behind her, leaving Tim there in confusement and shock of her sudden departure.  
  
------  
  
Robin waited on the roof of his penthouse for Falcon, anxious to hear who she thought her stalker was and how she had come about the answer.  
  
"So...who was it?" He asked as a female figure steped out of the shadows silently.  
  
"It wasn't easy...but all the clues lead to only one logical answer." Falcon stated evenly with no emotion as she fired a grapnel at a nearby building and swung across the skyline, quickly followed by Robin.  
  
"Which is..." Robin prodded her to go on as they landed on top of a bank, Falcon's back facing him. She stood that way for a long moment, her hans were balled up in fist and her back was rigid and straight.  
  
Rachael turned to look at him with a gaze that shone with knowledge of what was going on in front of her...almost all that was going on...as well as a bit of anger. "It was you."  
  
Robin looked a little taken aback as he heard this. "What?"  
  
"This was all a test." She sat down on a nearby Gargoyle. "Batman wanted you to steal my costume to test how I would handle the situation and how well I would deduce my stalkers identity." But there was more than one stalker. Rachael knew that now. She had thought for a brief second that Stephanie Brown was the one who broke into her locker, but that theory had quickly been put to rest when she had confronted Steph in the alley.  
  
Steph' HAD sent the faux Riddler letter to the GCPD because she knew that Batman would get involved and put the youngest and least experienced member of the Bat clan on the 'safe job' of staking out Nigma's apartment. Stephanie had wanted to surveil Rachael as a means of seeing if sahe was any better than she had been when she belonged to the clan.  
  
"Congradulations." Tim smirked as he crouched down on the building ledge not to far away from Falcon. "Care to tell me how you came about that conclusion?"  
  
"At first, I had thought it was the same person that had sent the letter to the GCPD, but that wouldn't make any sense." Falcon began as she tried to make herself comfortable in her gargoyle chair, a frown upon her face. "If that person had worn gloves when they sent ME a letter, why wouldn't they have been equaly as careful when they sent a letter to the GCPD? They're two different cases completely."  
  
"Meaning it was someone who was trying to pose as another person who had done a similar crime." Robin stated.  
  
"Right. But how would they have known enough detail of the matter of the letter sent to the GCPD when it was the NIGHT before their crime? Not fast enough to make it to the press when the police didn't release a statment about it all until the next morning."  
  
"No, this person had to have had specific knowledge of the crime that goes on in this city." Which had led Rachael to believe that it was Huntress, but that made even less sense. Helena, no matter how mixed up she sometimes was, was one of the good guys. What motive could she have to threaten one of her students? Not to mention, she hadn't even been to school that day. "And how could that person know how to pick a padlock so quickly without knowing the lock number or having any kind of training?" Which ruled out Brian Huster. They guy had a muscle bound brain . How could he have attained such...special knowledge? It was the same story with his father, Principal Huster. "It could have been one of Oracle's opperatives...but later evidence proves otherwise."  
  
"It hadsn't rained in days until today, how could the person have gotten mud on their shoes and tracked it in front of my locker then? Your street was flooded over because of a busted water line, it would be PRETTY hard to avoid getting mud on your shoes around here right now. Not to mention the green fiber I found in my locker, the same color as your gloves you're wearing." Falcon indicated Tims green swathed hands.  
  
"And then the video was a dead give away. Who has the hacking abilities to shut down the survielance cameras in the school so they can pull off the job without getting detected? But before I even veiwed the tape, I was sure who it was. It just explained where the Principal had gone. The secretary must have told him that there was a disturbance in the hallway and he went to see what it was. Only to find...nothing." Rachael exposed the links of the chain one by one. Each link easily exposed the other in her mind. "Plus, did I REALLY think Batman, the 'World's Greatest Detective', wouldn't notice that a spare Falcon costume was missing from the costume vault? HE, of all people, would have known that something was amiss from the beginning. It all poins to only one person. You."  
  
Rachael finished her lengthy speech and Tim let out a long whistle in astonishment.  
  
"Wow. You did better than I thought you would have." Robin raised an eyebrow under his mask as he came to stand back up.  
  
"Does this mean I've passed?" She said with a small note of sarcasm. She felt a little...betrayed, but she knew that Tim wasn't in control of all of this. There was no way to say 'no' to The Batman. Robin probably had no other choice then to do this to her. No, she was mad at Batman himself. But...she couldn't help but feel a little like she couldn't trust him, or any of the other members of the batclan for that matter. She didn't belong with them.... ... ... No, she had passed. She had proven her abilities. Batman wouldn't let her take up the falcon costume if he didn't think she deserved it.  
  
"Flying colors." Robin smiled and soon had Falcon smiling as well even through all her stress aand betrayal. They were frozen like that for a mere second. Rachael sitting on the head of the gargoyle with a sense of balance and a tired, but content look on her face and Tim standing there, sencerely happy for his friend, if not feeling a little guilty.  
  
"C'mon. Lets see if we can find any baddies to beatup." Rachael said as she hopped off of her perch and pulled out a grapne after the silence that had passed began to become uncomfortable and awkward.  
  
Robin chuckled slightly. "Good idea. Lets go." And they both swung off into the rainy evening air.  
  
There was still one problem that nagged Rachael in the back of her mind, what was it that Oracle had been up to? But she pushed it away. She had solved the mystery, proven to the others and herself that she belonged there...hadn't she?  
  
----------  
  
"Oracle." Batman began as his image poped onto one of the many monitors and screens in Oracle's vast computer room. "Were you able to attain what I asked for?"  
  
Barbara, with one hand holding a mug of doctored coffee and the other resting ontop of what looked to be important papers, leaned forward towards the screen slightly. "Oh. I got it alright."  
  
"And?" Batman urged her on in a monotonal voice, an eyebrow raised questioningly under his mask as he waited for her to continue.  
  
"And its just as you suspected." Barbara sighed and laid her coffee aside. What she had come across was so vital, so startling, she positively COULDN'T tell her young friend about it. "Rachael Leigh Simmons...the one of this world....is dead."  
  
On the very top of the pile of papers that Barbara kept her hand over with such care, was a certificate of death, reading:  
  
Rachael L. Simmons.  
  
Date of Birth: October 23, 1988  
  
Date of Death: December 11, 1995  
  
The End...For Now  
  
a/n : Dont worry! More to come! Just means that this short story arc is finished, the REALLY big one isn't. ;) 


End file.
